ON THE SPOT

Out of the 1.8+ billion young people in the world, how many have been empowered to participate in civic processes? There has been a huge difference in the way young people in developed countries and those in less developed countries react to the political and non-political affairs of their countries. Many reasons have been brought about to highlight reasons why young people in less developed countries have been less engaged in civic processes. Civic participation or civic engagement involves “working to make a difference in one's community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to make that difference”( Erlich ). Civic participation is simply taking ownership of the affairs of the community and contributing towards its development. The United Nations defines youths as people between the ages of 15 and 24, whilst the African Union regards people between the ages of 15 and 35 as youths. Age is a major factor in civic participation. According ...

Never in a million years would l doubt the power of education in developing an active citizen . Peter Brougham was definitely right when he stated that, "Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave." Education has become an awakening tool for citizens to participate in civic processes. The more they learn about their rights and how government policies affect their livelihoods, the more they engage with policymakers on what they desire as citizens. If it wasn't for educated citizens (the independent, responsible, well-informed, critically minded, and empowered citizens), there would not have been any ‘Breaking News Headlines’ of citizen protests, strikes, or uprisings against governments and colonizers. It was those with intellectual strength through the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and virtuous disposition, who saw it right to act against injustice and end civic apathy. Indeed, education has been the dr...